Question
Are birds attracted to Axe body spray (because it has pheromones in it)?
Hypothesis
My Hypothesis is that the birds will go to the feeder with the Axe on it because birds like to mate. I got the idea because my friends were telling me that Axe body spray has animal pheromones in it, so I thought that if humans like it maybe birds will too.
Procedure: I made 2 feeders that were the same and I hung them next to each other in my yard. At the begining of each day I sprayed a sock attached to the Axe feeder and left the other one alone. After a few days I measured and refilled each feeder with seed so I can figure out which feeder had more seed eaten out of it. I used the same kind of spray the whole time.
Variables
The independent variable for my project is the feeder with the scent and the feeder without the scent.
The dependent variable is the amount of bird seed eaten.
The control variable is that the feeders and the feed are all the same, and I always spray the Axe feeder at the same time each morning. The feeders are also kept at the same level in the same area, hanging from the swing set in my backyard.
Here are Titmice eating from the feeder without the Axe spray
Materials
1 can of Axe "Rise" deodorant spray
2 empty milk jugs(the feeders)
1 big bag of Black oil sunflower and peanut birdseed
Measuring Cups(1 cup and 1/4cup)
1 pair of scissors
4 bamboo skewers
4 feet of thin rope(to hang up the feeders with)
1 old sock (to wrap around the feeder and spray the Axe on)
Here is a wren near the feeder with the Axe spray on it(I applied the Axe spray to the sock tied around the handel of the feeder)
Research
I did some reasearch on the ingredients in the Axe spray and found that none of the ingredients were pheromones or had anything to do with them.
So now the experiment is just to see if the birds care what the feeders smell like. The ingredient in the Axe that I thought was a pheromone was acually just to kill germs (an antimicrobial), it was called polyaminopropyl biguanide stearate.
According to the Birds of Stanford website, birds do have a sense of smell, but it is not as strong as their other senses.
Methods
I started out by cuting 4 large holes into the sides of two empty milk jugs and sticking bamboo skewers into the jugs for perches. Then I filled up the feeders with 3 cups of black oil sunflower and peanut birdseed. Before I applied the Axe spray I put the feeders out for about a week so the birds knew there are feeders so that when I sprayed the feeder I was sure to get results. For the feeder that the Axe was going to be sprayed on, I tied an old sock around the handle and sprayed it, so that when it rained it wouldn't wash off. Every morning I sprayed the sock with Axe so that the scent would still be there at the end of the day.Then after a few days I measured the seed with cup measures and added 3 cups of fresh seed before I hung it back up. At the end of the week I measured the seed eaten, graphed it and got my results.
Results
The birds ate more than twice as much from the feeder without the Axe on it.
Feeders
Amount of seed eaten after 3 days from start
Amount of seed eaten after 8 days from start
Total amount eaten
Feeder with Axe
1/4 cup
1/2 cup
3/4 cups
Feeder without Axe
1 1/4 cups
3/4 cups
2 cups
Results after 8 days of the experiment
Discussion
The experiment did not support my hypothesis because the birds ate twice as much seed from the feeder without the Axe. Also I found out that the Axe did not actually have any pheromones in it so the birds were not attracted by the Axe. My alternate hypothesis would be that the birds would be repelled by the Axe smell because it is a weird smell. My alternate experiment would be that instead of using Axe, I would use a different perfume that actually had real pheromones in it rather than basing my experiment off of an urban myth.
Question
Are birds attracted to Axe body spray (because it has pheromones in it)?
Hypothesis
My Hypothesis is that the birds will go to the feeder with the Axe on it because birds like to mate. I got the idea because my friends were telling me that Axe body spray has animal pheromones in it, so I thought that if humans like it maybe birds will too.
Procedure: I made 2 feeders that were the same and I hung them next to each other in my yard. At the begining of each day I sprayed a sock attached to the Axe feeder and left the other one alone. After a few days I measured and refilled each feeder with seed so I can figure out which feeder had more seed eaten out of it. I used the same kind of spray the whole time.
Variables
The independent variable for my project is the feeder with the scent and the feeder without the scent.
The dependent variable is the amount of bird seed eaten.
The control variable is that the feeders and the feed are all the same, and I always spray the Axe feeder at the same time each morning. The feeders are also kept at the same level in the same area, hanging from the swing set in my backyard.
Materials
1 can of Axe "Rise" deodorant spray2 empty milk jugs(the feeders)
1 big bag of Black oil sunflower and peanut birdseed
Measuring Cups(1 cup and 1/4cup)
1 pair of scissors
4 bamboo skewers
4 feet of thin rope(to hang up the feeders with)
1 old sock (to wrap around the feeder and spray the Axe on)
Research
I did some reasearch on the ingredients in the Axe spray and found that none of the ingredients were pheromones or had anything to do with them.
So now the experiment is just to see if the birds care what the feeders smell like. The ingredient in the Axe that I thought was a pheromone was acually just to kill germs (an antimicrobial), it was called polyaminopropyl biguanide stearate.
According to the Birds of Stanford website, birds do have a sense of smell, but it is not as strong as their other senses.
Methods
I started out by cuting 4 large holes into the sides of two empty milk jugs and sticking bamboo skewers into the jugs for perches. Then I filled up the feeders with 3 cups of black oil sunflower and peanut birdseed. Before I applied the Axe spray I put the feeders out for about a week so the birds knew there are feeders so that when I sprayed the feeder I was sure to get results. For the feeder that the Axe was going to be sprayed on, I tied an old sock around the handle and sprayed it, so that when it rained it wouldn't wash off. Every morning I sprayed the sock with Axe so that the scent would still be there at the end of the day.Then after a few days I measured the seed with cup measures and added 3 cups of fresh seed before I hung it back up. At the end of the week I measured the seed eaten, graphed it and got my results.
Results
The birds ate more than twice as much from the feeder without the Axe on it.
Feeders
Discussion
The experiment did not support my hypothesis because the birds ate twice as much seed from the feeder without the Axe. Also I found out that the Axe did not actually have any pheromones in it so the birds were not attracted by the Axe. My alternate hypothesis would be that the birds would be repelled by the Axe smell because it is a weird smell. My alternate experiment would be that instead of using Axe, I would use a different perfume that actually had real pheromones in it rather than basing my experiment off of an urban myth.Resources
The Birds of Stanford website about bird sense of smell:http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Avian_Sense.html
The SpecialChem website is where I went to find out about polyaminopropyl biguanide stearate
http://www.specialchem4cosmetics.com/services/inci/ingredient.aspx?id=10363